Kill Him Softly
by AidenSeamus
Summary: Aiden had successfully made his way down to Georgia from New England with the help of his cousin. Now, with Shane's group of survivors, he not only struggles to stay alive but struggles to fit into the tight knit family before its too late. M for Merle's language and later situations. Trigger warning for some on my OC.


A/N: I don't own anything related to TWD. I only own my OC. The story will semi follow each season and the trigger mentioned in my summary is my OC. you'll figure it out why some people might find him a triggr by the end of the chapter.

* * *

"Don't listen to the faggot, Shane." Merle grumbled as he dug through the saddle bags of the Dixon brother's Triumph. "He ain't worth shit."

The subject of Merle's fury chuckled and muttered lowly, "Too bad I'm more of a man than you are Merle." His laughter grew and caught the red neck's attention.

The younger of the two brothers, Daryl Dixon, watched as his older brother grabbed the short bleached blonde man by the scruff of his neck and slammed him into the dirt.

"What'd ya say _Faggot_?" Merle growled as he dropped a large handful of dirt into the younger man's face as he rolled over for air.

The blonde spat what had gotten into his mouth out and turned his head back to Merle, "I said I was more of a man than you." He gasped as Merle punched him in the stomach and once in the face before the hand returned to its harsh grasp. The younger glared back up at him, "You better get that hand off of me before I cut it off." Shane, Dale and Jim only intervened at that point because the little spitfire man had spat a mouthful of blood directly into Merle's face.

"Enough!" Shane growled as he shoved Merle back towards his motorcycle. "Enough…"

"We need to stick together." Dale smiled, "Not fight amongst ourselves."

The man on the ground nodded as he sat up. Besides Dale, Daryl had been the only other biological male in the camp to flat out accept him at face value (even though Daryl hadn't fully voiced it). His brown eyes slowly met the younger Dixon as he nodded in slight apology for his brother before he followed the racist asshole away.

"Don't mind them, Aiden." Dale sighed as he held out his hand. He pulled the twenty year old up off the ground and handed him a small cup of water.

"Merle doesn't bother me." Aiden coughed after he'd successfully swallowed the water. "I only worry about the women, especially Lori, and Ed."

Dale frowned and made an understanding gesture before he excused himself. A crackling voice on the CB radio caught his attention.

_Hello. Hello. Can you hear my voice? Hello. Hello. Can anybody hear my voice?_

Aiden sighed and placed the cup on the picnic table before he approached Amy, who continually tried to contact the man. She cursed and Shane attempted a few times before he declared the man was gone.

* * *

He shook his head, his short blonde spikes bobbed with the motion. He had tried to make signs to warn survivors from going into Atlanta. The place was swarming with walkers. Whoever had sent out word that the city was a refuge, in his opinion, should be killed. He continued to shake his head until he reached his makeshift shelter. He had joked with Dale and Shane on several occasions that it looked it had come off the _Lost_ TV set. He dropped down beside a rather large suitcase and opened it half way to grab a small syringe and a bottle of clear liquid from its depths. A short huff left his lips as he pulled his jeans and boxers down to prepare himself for the shot.

His blue trap doorway pulled back and Aiden nearly jumped six feet in the air. His hand slowly drew away from his back and he chuckled lowly.

"Shit Amy," He laughed as the woman blushed and pulled the tarp closed behind her. "You scared me."

"I'm sorry." Aiden tried his best to hide the syringe but Amy's smile oddly reassured him. He waited until she spoke again, "I'm sorry about Merle and the way the others are treating you." She quickly breathed out, "And I'm sorry for the way I've treated you."

For a lack of words, Aiden nodded and continued to awkwardly stand before her as she took in the rest of his tarped space. Her hand softy glided across his compound elk bow and the quiver he had stolen from a hunting shop in New England.

"Do you need help with that?" She whispered as Aiden pulled his jeans and boxers down a bit again. He smiled gratefully and held out the now full syringe. Amy knelt down and watched as his hands fisted on a piece of support steel. "Ready?" He nodded once and hissed once the needle had passed through the skin on his left butt cheek. He exhaled slowly as Amy finished the injection and winced when she removed it. "All done."

"Thanks." Aiden managed a few moments later. He had, in the silence, pulled a read biohazard back out from his pile of belongings beside the Indian blanket he called his bed and placed the used syringe inside. The bag made a heavy clinking sound once it was returned to its spot in the pile.

"Do you have to do this every day?" Amy asked as Aiden swallowed down a few pills dry.

"Yes." Aiden paused, almost uncertain of what to say next. "And the pills for a while or else my…" He exhaled and looked at the doorway tarp, "My female hormones will resurface."

Amy surprised him by taking the news in stride and nodded with a large grin when she offered to help him with his daily injections and sat for a while. She asked many questions the others seemed to not want to know; how long had he been taking hormones( he'd lost count), when did he come to realize who he really was (around twelve), and did he tell everyone he loved before the outbreak?(Yes, and most accepted him)

"I wonder when Glenn will be back with supplies." Amy sighed as Aiden split an apple in half and shared it with her. The others had gone for supplies right after the mystery radio caller.

"I would guess it would be soon." Aiden tossed the core outside as he retied the tarp to be open and returned to grab a holster full of throwing knives and a small 9mm. "He wanted to go solo again." He was sure Amy heard the disappointment in his tone and gently hugged him from behind.

"Don't worry," she smiled and drew back, "He'll let you go with him one of these days."

Aiden motioned for her to follow after he made sure the bag with his hormones were zipped up tight. He re-tied his tarp and Amy handed him his bow and arrows when he was done. Both ignored the rest of the camp who had all diverted their attention to them.

"Thanks again, Amy." He smiled and handed her another apple.

"You're welcome." She slowly wiped the apple off on her shirt, "Remember what I said, ok?"

"Your sister will come back safe." Amy swirled around at the offhanded comment but only came to view Aiden's back. A scar wound down from his right arm from his shoulder that she hadn't noticed before since he'd always worn some form of over shirt until now. She glanced back and found only Daryl's gaze remained on their newest addition and there was something in his gaze that she couldn't place. He stood and moved silently across the camp in the same direction as Aiden.

"Shouldn't we go after them?" Amy felt a slow boiling fury brew in her.

"No," dale quickly butted in from the top of the RV, "If Daryl's going after him, they'll be fine." Lori shook her head and went back to boiling food over the open fire.

* * *

In a field about a half mile from the campsite, Aiden huffed in exertion as Daryl watched from the trees. He admitted after a few minutes of voyeurism, the younger man had training down pat with his gun and his throwing knives. He had the right idea for training with his elk bow. He started off about a hundred yards away and fired at a target from many different positions including his knees, stomach and both sides of his body. He would stop for a few moments and collect the arrows he had used and reset the target at a closer distance.

When the target was about forty yards away and Aiden's bow was slung over his shoulder, Daryl emerged and lifted his hand. He watched as the fake blonde tensed and reached for his bow.

"I ain't a walker, kid." Daryl watched as Aiden huffed and collected all of his arrows and let the piece of bark he'd been using as a target. "Try to move around when you're practicing," He lifted his hands and fixed Aiden's bow sling too mirror his own. "It's better training for real life scenarios." Aiden glanced up at Daryl and couldn't form his words, "What's wrong with ya?"

Aiden shook his head and brushed past him. "You've said all of five words to me since I got here three weeks ago and now you're playing teacher?" He scoffed, "You find me just as revolting as your brother does."

Daryl followed and eventually caught up to him and grabbed him by the arm, "I don't find ya revolting and I ain't a copy of my brother." Aiden's eyes traveled from Daryl's hand to his face, "Do you have any family left?" Daryl nearly kicked himself after that bit rushed out.

The stood within Dale's view from the top of the RV now. Aiden smirked sadly, "I had a cousin. All my other family, including my two older sisters, are dead."

Daryl cleared his throat and adjusted his crossbow sling. _What's wrong with me? _"Is your cousin dead?"

"I don't know," Aiden shook his head and walked towards camp, "We split up a few days before I found you guys."

When they finally made it to the camp, Aiden emerged first and went to his tent and Daryl returned to his side he shared with Merle. He was extremely relieved to find his shelter empty and closed the tarp to keep the others and Amy away then placed his weapons within reach as he forced himself to lie down on his bed. His heart had yet to slow down from his brief contact with Daryl and he hated to admit he held any romantic emotion for the younger Dixon. His cousin had asked him once if he was gay and he'd responded with pansexual although he'd only been in a relationship with a woman and a partner who had identified as genderqueer. Daryl was a prime example of a very masculine man… not the kind of person in his usual sexual attraction range.

A loud slap of flesh hitting his tarp knocked him out of his thoughts. When he pulled it back, Amy stood with tears in her eyes inn front of him. Before he could get a word in edgewise, she wrapped her arms around him and cried into his chest.

"What's wrong?" He asked when she had finally calmed down.

"They others are trapped in Atlanta." She wiped her eyes. "My sister isn't coming-"

"She'll make it back." Aiden pulled back and led her inside after he made a short headcount of who was in camp. "Where'd Daryl go?"

"He went out to hunt before the radio call came in." Amy sniffled. "I don't want to be the one to tell him his brother isn't coming back."


End file.
